Mira Neshama Weil, at The Blogs

May 13, 2024, 7:58 PM

Independance Day post-October 7. Zion is Beautiful

This year, Israeli Independence Day will not be a celebration. Israel is at war, families are in mourning, and the hostages remain captive. No, this year Yom HaAtzmaut will not be joyful. But perhaps it will be more meaningful...

May 13, 2024, 4:37 PM

The first Yom HaZikaron After October 7

When you die, something of you, within me, will die with you. These words come from a song sung during an evening ceremony of Yom HaZikaron, performed nearly a decade ago by two Israeli singers, one secular and one charedi, Abraham Tal...

Apr 18, 2023, 4:58 PM

The Siren

Jerusalem during the two-minute siren that sounded across Israel to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day on April 18, 2023. Photo source: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

Yom HaShoah 2023 It rang at 10 o'clock in the morning, like every year, on the day of Yom HaShoah. I was folding the laundry; We stop immediately. We get up from the computer, we go outside if we are in a shop,...

May 31, 2021, 9:47 PM

Entangled gardens. Why we need the Pirkei Avot

Trebah Gardens, Nr Falmouth, Cornwall, England: Situated in a sheltered valley in the far south west of Cornwall, this garden has a mild and often frost free micro climate. Running down the valley is a delightful small stream that is superbly planted with candelabra Primula and Ajuga. It is bordered by rhododendrons, Dicksonia, Gunnera, Hydrangea and other moisture loving plants. In spring the stream is a really colourful spectacle.

Other water features in this garden include a koi pond and sizeable lakes at the bottom of the valley – great for reflections and particularly nice in late summer when the hydrangeas are out.
Trebah gardens are exceptionally well planted and maintained. They are one of my favourite gardens in the far south-west of the UK.

The use of water in English Gardens: Water has long played an important role many UK gardens. Some of the best English gardens have been built around natural water features, such as streams running down secluded valleys or tranquil pools in a rural setting.

Many of the grand English landscape gardens use water on a very large scale indeed, often creating artificial lakes that appear to be natural features of the landscape. Other gardens use water on a smaller scale with detailed, intimate planting around a brook or small pool. Even a small fountain or water feature adds a sense of movement to a garden.

However water is used in a garden, it adds another important element to garden design. Large flat reflective surfaces give a sense of peace and tranquillity. Moving water bring dynamism and sound – difficult to resist on a hot summer afternoon. Incorporating water into a garden also provides an ideal environment for a wide variety of moisture loving plants, many of which have architectural foliage and provide great structure too.

I hope the photos in this set will be of interest to anyone studying garden design or just seeking inspiration for using water in their own garden.

© 2014 ukgarde

The recent war in Israel and Gaza brought me back to the stoic wisdom of Voltaire’s Candide: “one needs to cultivate one’s own garden.” Only with a Jewish twist: according to the Pirkei Avot, no garden is an island. « If...

Mar 18, 2021, 9:28 PM

Online Meditation Retreat. Really?

One of the perks of being a meditation teacher is that I get to meditate for free. Last year, I decided, last minute, to join an “online retreat” run by my colleagues at Or Ha lev. I was a bit...

Mar 7, 2021, 4:01 PM

Kishkes: Reclaiming Embodied Jewish Spirituality

If Avraham was the first Jew, where did he get his wisdom from? This is the question asked by the choze mi- Lublin (החוזה מלובלין). The chassidic master, commenting on the spiritual journey of Judaism’s first patriarch, notices: “he had...

Feb 6, 2021, 9:33 PM

Love before love

As Shabbat came to an end, the week has seen the passing of Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twersky came to a close. When I heard that this great Chassidic rabbi, psychiatrist and spiritual teacher had transitioned from this world, his...

About Me

Rabbah Dr. Mira Neshama Weil is a Scholar and Teacher of Jewish Spirituality and Meditation. She received her Doctorate in Sociology of Religion from the Ecole de Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris, and her certificate of “Jewish Mindfulness Teacher” from the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. She learned Torah at the Drisha Institute for Jewish Studies and received smikha from Orthodox Rabbi Pr. Daniel Sperber at Beit Midrash Ha’ El in Jerusalem. She teaches Torah and Jewish Meditation with Akadem, Applied Jewish Spirituality, Or Ha Lev, Pardes, Moishe House Europe and at various institutions internationally.

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